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This week marked the beginning of the new school year for me. I am teaching in a new school, two new grade levels, with a new schedule. The block scheduling for my freshman is still leaving me a little unsure of where I am, but my seniors are great so far!

I co-teach my freshman, alongside the history teacher, so I am still finding my way as far as class time, routines, etc. But my seniors are all mine. I work alongside another English teacher, teaching the same works and using the same projects, but the class itself is mine to plan. Today I really got into “the groove”. We are reading William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, one of my favorites. But today I also started our first read aloud. Unlike in the past, when I focused on the mock Newbery, I am working to align my read-aloud with our unit theme. As we are studying the human condition, and reading books like William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, I selected our first read-aloud carefully. We are reading Janne Teller’s Nothing. (see my review) The book itself is stunning and I think it has Printz Award written all over it. Even more importantly, it fits our unit perfectly while also exposing my students to literature from a modern European perspective. We read the first 20 pages in class today and the comments were very positive. I can’t want to continue!

So what did I booktalk? The Hunger Games! None of my students had read it and only two had heard of it. I now have a waiting list for it.🙂 One student took it home this weekend and was getting a firm reminder from her classmates to finish it this weekend. I also booktalked Gone, which piqued their interest, too. It’s awesome getting back into my normal routine!

Finally, I had each of my seniors sign up for Edmodo and Goodreads. I just started using Edmodo and I think I love it so far! I already know I love Goodreads. I plan to use Goodreads for my seniors’ letter-essays, along with class book discussions. Has anyone else used Goodreads in the classroom? I would love to hear about your experiences!